Bottle-package



No. 623,472. Patented A'pr. I8, 1899 H. H. HIGHA B TT L E PA 6(Application filed Mar.

(No Model.)

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'NITE rates rrrcn.

A'IENT BOTTLE-PACKAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,472, dated April18, 1899.

Application filed March 25,1898. serial No. 675,132. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HOWARD H. HIGHAM, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have inventedcertainImprovements in Bottle-Packages, of which the following is aspecification.

The objects of my invention are to provide a bottle package which willbe extremely strong and will protect the bottles not only from injurybecause of pressure due to the weight of the bottles themselves, butalso from injury due to blows or shocks upon the package, each bottle,moreover, being relieved from the weight of the other bottles.

A further object is to provide a package composed of parts which whenseparated will constitute complete wrappings for the individual bottlesand will thus renderitunnecessary for the retailer to rewrap the same.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of abottle-package constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is aplan or top View of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one cornerof the package, and Figs. 4 and 5 are views illustrating modificationsof the invention.

There are two serious objections to bottlepackages now in use and withwhich I am familiar, the first of these objections being the danger ofbreakage, which is inseparable from all packages wherein the strength ofthe individual bottle is used to support the weight of bottlessuperposed upon it, this fault being common to all forms of loosepackings, and also to those bottle-packages having division-partitionswhich have not within themselves sufficientstrength tosupport the weightof the bottles and their contents. Such packages are in their naturemerely bottle-separators, the bottles alone sustaining the weight andthe shocks due to careless handling. The second objection isthat thepresent packages fail to meet the demands of the retail trade for apackage which Will render unnecessary the rewrapping of each individualbottle as taken from the package before it can be delivered to acustomer. My invention overcomes both of these objections, and when thepackage is placed in a box, case, or other inclosure it rendersunnecessary the use of supplementary packings in the form of end andside liners and top and bottom pads as now commonly employed, and notonly this,

but it furnishes a package which can be,if desired, used without anyinclosing box or case without risk of injury to or displacement of anyof the bottles contained in it.

In carrying out my invention I provide a lar cells, to each of which issnugly fitted a cylindrical, oval, or other form of tubular casing 3 forcontaining a bottle, said tubular casing being of a length so much inexcess of that of the bottle that provision is afforded for the use oftop and bottom caps 4c and 5, let into each end of the casing and bypreference securely cemented in place therein.

The tubular casings 3 are glued or otherwise secured in the cells of therack formed by the strips 1 and 2, so that they are not likely to heaccidentally displaced while the structure is being handled or is instorage, without, however, having such a firm connection with the rackthat they cannot be readily removed therefrom when desired. As each endcap of each tubular casing 3 is let into the same a projecting flange isformed beyond each cap, and it becomes impossible for either bottle inthe package to exert its weight upon the bottle below it, the weight ofeach bottle being borne by the caps of its individual inclosing casing,and each tubular bottlecasing, with its end caps, when removed from therack forms a package which can be delivered by the retailer to acustomer without the necessity of any further wrapping.

The tubular casings and the rack afford each other mutual support, sothat the power of the package to resist crushing strains is representedby the sum of the resistance of both elements of the package. Hence Ihave found that my improved package can be stored or transported withsafety even when it is not packed in an inclosing boX or casing, or ifthe latter is used no side and end liners or top and bottom pads arenecessary.

The end caps serve to strengthen the tubu lar casings 3 againsttransverse crushing strain, and they also stiffen the end portions ofthe casings, so as to prevent longitudinal crushing of the same when anumber of the packages are piled one on top of another, and the crushingof the rack which contains the tubular casings is prevented by theprojecting end portions 6 of the strips 1 and 2, it being well knownthat a strip of pasteboard, such as is usually employed in the makingofthese racks,opposes a'high resistance to crushing strain exerted in thedirection of the length of the strip. This same object is attained if inplace of the rack formed of the crossed and interlocked strips 1 and 2 Iemploy one or more strips 7, perforated for the reception of the tubularcasings 3, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 4.

It will be manifest .that bottles contained in a package such as thatforming the subject of myinvention are not subject to the direct shockof a blow delivered upon the package in any direction, and as thestrength of the package is much greater than that necessary to resistthe weight of the bottles carried therein the bottles themselves are notemployed directly or indirectly in adding to the strength of thepackage, and their safety is consequently assured.

The end caps in the tubular casings 3 may be either dished washers, asshown in Fig. 1, or plain washers, as shown at at in Fig. 5, and wherethe structure employed is a mere provision for rapid packing the tubesmay be made shorter and the top cap may be omitted, a packing-stripbeing laid upon the tops of the tubular casings in place of said uppercaps, or in some cases both the upper and lower caps may be omitted fromthe easings and packing-strips both at top and bottom of said casingsmay be employed in lieu thereof.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. In a bottle-package, the combination of a series oftubular bottle-casings disposed side by side, with a separatingstructure having pockets or cells to the sides of which saidbottle-casings are secured.

2. In a bottle-package, the combination of a series of tubularbottle-casings extending beyond the ends of the bottle and disposed sideby side, with a separating structure having pockets or cells to thesides of which said bottle-casings are secured.

In a bottle-package, the combination of a series of tubularbottle-casings disposed side by side, with a separating structure havingpockets or cells to the sides of which said bottle-casings are secured,and which structure extends laterally beyond the outermost casing of theseries.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HOWARD II. IIIGIIAM.

\Vitnesses:

CHAS. II. BANNARD, WILL. A. BARR.

